There's a lot of hype surrounding the Presidential Election this year. Young people are told, “This is a crucial decision.” You know it’s important, you know your voice will make a difference. But when you’re in the voting booth, you have several more important decisions to make.

Down ticket races, (sometimes called Tier B races) are also very important decisions you will have to make. And your vote is may be more crucial in these races. In 2006, three votes decided one of these races, for the Montana House of Representatives seat in Laurel. Those three votes have had a huge impact on the last two years. Three votes handed control of the House to Republicans, and they controlled committees, agendas, and won the right to have the Speaker of the House.  Every vote is important.

And in the June Primary, some voters chose not to participate in these crucial down ticket races. It may be harder to get information about these candidates, or even know who they are. But thank goodness you have the internet! With this powerful tool, you can probably dig up some biographical information on every race down to dog catcher.

It’s hard to be a down ticket candidate, too. In this week's video, I met up with Denise Juneau, Democrat for Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Attorney General Candidates (Steve Bullock and Tim Fox.) They all agreed it’s harder to get information about their candidacies to young voters. The state is very large (in land mass) and they don’t have presidential sized budgets or staffs. But they still manage to get their messages out through face to face contact, local media, and even Facebook!

So make sure when you go to vote, you have the information to make a decision on EVERY race on the ballot. These people will be working for your state and will make decisions about how Montanans will work and live everyday. If you need more information, Forward Montana has an excellent sample ballot with weblinks to candidate information here.

The Secretary of State’s office can help you determine who’s running in your local legislative races (for House of Representatives and Montana Senate.)  This website (http://app.mt.gov/voterinfo/)  can also help you determine if you’re registered to vote and where.

Voting isn’t a passive act. You do need to do a little research. It’s not as much work as school, but you’ll be happy when you’re not in the booth sweating bullets over some unfamiliar names!